crÈme de la creme. what is it about that? >> if you take all of the great operatic comedies, the really great ones. if you take figaro and rosenkavalier and don pasquale, meistersinger, and you take all the human comedies, with or above the best of them is falstaff. falstaff is a miracle of libretto and storyline, of musical inspiration, of mastery of every detail of composition. it is in a class with figaro and meistersinger, which are perhaps the other two that are most perfect. i don't need them to be perfect. i love a lot of pieces that are not perfect and those are the crÈmeatic comedy, which is striking because 80% of operatic repertoire is grandiose, tragic, melodramatic, somebody dies. in these pieces, the human beings get wiser and through a lot of circumstances which they play seriously but we find very funny. >> who else has been instrumental in terms of helping you appreciate a, the music and become up being a mentor to you? who have been the men who have helped you understand the limitless potential of music? >> is a long list, charlie. it is a long list of official teachers, like george szell who was my mentor, wolfganag vacano starting in 1962. from the time i was 10 or 11, i had walter levine with all the musical -- for everything, for theory, for harmony for style. he even coached me on the instrument, playing chamber music with his students. it was an unbelievable education of the kinds that one goes to college for, but i was 11 when i started. then, i went, for example to marlborough. there was claude frank and able community of brilliant te

those are just the creme de la creme of operatic comedy.atic repertoire is grandios, tragic, melodramatic, you know, somebody dies. in these pieces the human beings get wiser and through a lot of circumstances which they play seriously but we find very funny. >> rose: who else has been instrumental in terms of helping you appreciate a, the music, and b being instructed to you, mentored to you, or in opening distance to you. who are the men and women who have been there that have helped you understand all the limitless potential of music. >> boy, it's a long list, charlie. and it is, it's a long list of official teachers, like george zell who was my ten tore there, wolf pang picano who broke up the idea of having an assistant in the opera workshop in aspen and had me conduct the last performance of whatever opera we were doing, starting in 1962. i did that when i was 19. and i had from the time i was 10 or 11 i had walter levine, first violinist of the lasalle quartet for all the musical, for everything, for theory, harmony, repertoire, for

these are the most crÈme de la crÈme.bviously the they were building up and needs young man were selected to almost the storm is coming because the regime is going to change. by the end of the year, december 17, 2011, kim jong-il died. it happened in north korea and the rest of the world. in $2011 the last of the career. >> did you know it was going to be your last day? >> yes, i couldn't believe it. when i was told. because i was bear, when i was told by a colleague that he died, it was christmas time. in that country you only have the great leader. >> were your lesson plans controlled? >> yes. >> you were given scripts? >> not scripps, the certain guidelines. you have to get permission for everything. so, you know, i really trusted in order to get to know them. it doesn't sound -- i really actually loved them. i fell in love with all of them that i've really wanted to teach them. but there is always this feeling if i had told them, they don't really know about the world a lot of them and i do because i'm from the outsid